The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning four decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" bands to have originated in the UK punk scene.

Formed as the Guildford Stranglers on 11 September 1974 in Guildford, Surrey,[note 1] they originally built a following within the mid-1970s pub rock scene. While their aggressive, no-compromise attitude identified them as one of the instigators of the UK punk rock scene that followed, their idiosyncratic approach rarely followed any single musical genre and the group went on to explore a variety of musical styles, from new wave, art rock and gothic rock through the sophisticated pop of some of their 1980s output.

The Stranglers' early sound was driven by Jean-Jacques Burnel's melodic bass, but also gave prominence to Dave Greenfield's keyboards.
Their early music was also characterised by the growling vocals and sometimes misanthropic lyrics of both Burnel and Hugh Cornwell.[1] Over time, their output gradually grew more refined and sophisticated. Summing up their contribution to popular music, critic Dave Thompson later wrote: "From bad-mannered yobs to purveyors of supreme pop delicacies, the group was responsible for music that may have been ugly and might have been crude – but it was never, ever boring."[2]

Prior to forming the band, "Jet Black" (real name Brian Duffy) was already in his mid-30s—significantly older than the other members of the band he would eventually assemble. A successful businessman, Black at one point owned a fleet of ice cream vans,[3] and later ran "The Jackpot",[4] a Guildford off-licence that would serve as the base for the early Stranglers.[5][6] Black had also been a semi-professional drummer in the late 1950s and early 1960s; after attaining a degree of financial stability due to his business successes, by 1974 he decided to return to drumming, and to assemble a band.

From 1976 the Stranglers became associated with the burgeoning punk rock movement, due in part to their opening for the first British tours of American punks the Ramones and Patti Smith.[note 7][note 8] Notwithstanding this association, some of the movement's champions in the British musical press viewed the band with suspicion on account of their age and musical virtuosity and the intellectual bent of some of their lyrics. However, Burnel was quoted saying, "I thought of myself as part of punk at the time because we were inhabiting the same flora and fauna ... I would like to think the Stranglers were more punk plus and then some."[7]

The band's early albums, Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes and Black and White, all released within a period of 13 months, were highly successful with the record-buying public and singles such as "Peaches", "Something Better Change" and "No More Heroes" became instant punk classics. Meanwhile, the band received a mixed reception from some critics because of their apparent sexist and racist innuendo. However, critic Dave Thompson argued that such criticism was oblivious to the satire and irony in the band's music, writing: "the Stranglers themselves revelled in an almost Monty Python-esque grasp of absurdity (and, in particular, the absurdities of modern 'men's talk')."[8]
These albums went on to build a strong fan-following, but the group's confrontational attitude towards the press was increasingly problematic and triggered a severe backlash when Burnel, a martial arts enthusiast, punched music journalist Jon Savage during a promotional event.[note 9]

During their 1978 appearance at the University of Surrey on the BBC TV programme Rock Goes to College, the group walked off stage because an agreement to make tickets available to non-university students had not been honoured.[9] In February 1978 the Stranglers began a mini-tour, playing three secret pub gigs as a thank-you to those venues and their landlords for their support during the band's rise to success. The first was at The Duke of Lancaster in New Barnet on Valentine's Day,[10] with further performances at The Red Cow, Hammersmith, and The Nashville Rooms, West Kensington, in early September.[11]

In the later half of the 1970s, The Stranglers toured Japan twice, joining the alternative music scene of Tokyo, which was evolving from the punk sound of Kyoto-based band 村八分 (Ostracism), whose music influence spread to Tokyo in 1971. The Stranglers were the only foreign band to take part in a landmark scene focussed around S-KEN Studio in Roppongi, and The Loft venues in Shinjuku and Shimokitazawa from 1977 to 1979.[12] The scene included bands such as Friction, and they became friends with the band, Red Lizard, who they invited back to London, where the band became known as Lizard.[13] In 1979, while still in Japan, Burnel also became close friends with Keith, co-founder and drummer for ARB. At the end of 1983, ARB's bassist was imprisoned, leaving the band with a problem for their forthcoming tour. Burnel took time out from The Stranglers to fly out to Japan at short notice and join ARB to cover the tour, including appearing at the 'All Japan Rock Festival' at Hibaya park, becoming the first non-Japanese to ever appear at the festival.[note 10][14][15]Burnel toured with ARB for 5 weeks and played on two studio tracks, "Yellow Blood" and "Fight it Out", both of which appeared on the RCA Victor ARB album Yellow Blood.[note 11]

In 1979, one of the Stranglers' two managers advised them to break up as he felt that the band had lost direction, but this idea was dismissed and they parted company with their then current management team.[note 12] Meanwhile, Burnel released an experimental solo album Euroman Cometh backed by a small UK tour and Cornwell recorded the album Nosferatu in collaboration with Robert Williams. Later that year the Stranglers released The Raven, which heralded a transition towards a more melodic and complex sound which appealed more to the album than the singles market. The songs on The Raven are multi-layered and musically complicated, and deal with such subjects as a Viking's lonely voyage, heroin addiction, genetic engineering, contemporary political events in Iran and Australia and extraterrestrial visitors, "The Meninblack". The Raven saw a definite transition in the band's sound. The HohnerCembalet – so prominent on the previous three albums – was dropped and Oberheim synthesizers were deployed on most tracks. A KorgVocoder was used on the track "The Meninblack" whilst acoustic piano was used on "Don't Bring Harry". The Raven was not released in the US; instead a compilation album The Stranglers IV was released in 1980, containing a selection of tracks from The Raven and a mix of earlier and later non-album tracks. The Raven sold well, reaching No.4 in the UK Albums Chart, although it is believed[by whom?] it could have made No.1 but for an error in the chart. The Police hit No.1 despite their album not yet being released, leading to controversy that the Police album was mis-credited with sales of The Raven.[note 13]The Raven spawned one top 20 single, "Duchess", with "Nuclear Device" reaching No.36 and the EP "Don't Bring Harry" reaching No.41. This was followed by a non-album single, "Bear Cage", backed with "Shah Shah a Go Go" from The Raven. A 12-inch single, the band's first, containing extended mixes of both tracks was also released, but "Bear Cage" also only managed No.36 in the charts.

We're never going to use a producer again. They are just shitty little parasites. All they're good for is telling jokes. And we know better jokes than any of 'em.

Following the success of The Stranglers' previous four albums they were given complete freedom for their next, The Gospel According to the Meninblack, a concept album exploring religion and the supposed connection between religious phenomena and extraterrestrial visitors. It was preceded by a single "Who Wants the World", which didn't appear on the album, and only just made the top 40. The Gospel According to The Meninblack was very different from their earlier work and alienated many fans.[note 14] It peaked on the UK albums chart at No.8, their lowest placing to date, and in 1981 was widely considered an artistic and commercial failure.[note 14] The track "Two Sunspots" had been recorded during the Black And White sessions in 1978, but was shelved until 1980 when it was rediscovered and placed on The Gospel According to the Meninblack. The "Meninblack" track from The Raven is the "Two Sunspots" soundtrack slowed down.[note 15]

After a slow start, the Stranglers recovered their commercial and critical status with La Folie (1981) which was another concept album, this time exploring the subject of love. At first La Folie charted lower than any other Stranglers studio album, and the first single taken from it, "Let Me Introduce You to the Family", only charted at No.42. However, the next single was "Golden Brown". The song is an evocative waltz-time ballad, with an extra beat in the fourth bar. Cornwell said the lyrics were "about heroin and also about a girl. She was of Mediterranian origin and her skin was golden brown."[note 16] It became their biggest hit, charting at No.2 in the UK Singles Chart. It remains a radio staple to this day. Following this success, La Folie recharted at No.11 in the UK albums chart. "Tramp" was originally thought to be the ideal follow-up single to "Golden Brown"; however "La Folie" was chosen after Burnel convinced his bandmates of its potential.[note 17] Sung in French, it received negligible airplay and charted at No.47. Shortly afterwards the Stranglers left EMI. As part of their severance deal, The Stranglers were forced to release a greatest hits collection, The Collection 1977–1982.[note 18] The track listing for The Collection 1977–1982 included the new single "Strange Little Girl", which had originally been recorded on a demo in '74 and rejected by EMI. It became a hit, charting at No.7 in July 1982.

Following the Stranglers' return to commercial success, many record companies lined up to sign them. Virgin Records was the most likely choice but Epic Records made a last minute offer and secured the Stranglers' services. The Stranglers once again had complete artistic freedom and in 1983 released their first album for Epic, Feline, which included the UK No. 9 hit "European Female". The album was another change in musical direction, this time influenced by European music. It was the first Stranglers album to feature acoustic guitars, and it was on this album that Jet Black began to use electronic drum kits.[note 19] Hugh Cornwell stated, "On La Folie there were three tracks - 'Golden Brown' ... 'La Folie' and 'How to Find True Love and Happiness in the Present Day' - that sort of pointed us away from what we had been doing. It was strange doing those tracks, because we'd never really attempted that quite minimalistic recording technique. And when we started writing for Feline, things were coming out the same way."[17] The album gained much critical success but fell well short of La Folie in terms of sales and failed to produce another hit after "European Female". Nonetheless Feline broke the Stranglers in Europe and reached No.4 in the UK chart in January 1983 (their last studio album to break the UK Top 10).

1984 saw the release of Aural Sculpture which consolidated the band's success in Europe and established them in Oceania. It included the UK No.15 hit "Skin Deep" (which also reached No.11 in Australia and No. 19 in New-Zealand, and Top 30 in the Netherlands). This was their first album to feature the three-piece horn-section which was retained in all their subsequent albums and live performances until Hugh Cornwell's departure in 1990. Aural Sculpture was only a moderate success in the UK album charts, peaking at No.14 in November 1984.

Their 1986 album, Dreamtime, dealt with environmental concerns among other issues. Its signature track, and another radio staple for many years to come, was "Always the Sun" (a No.15 hit in France and No.16 hit in Ireland, No.21 in Australia, No.30 in the UK, and No.42 in the Netherlands). The only Stranglers album to chart in the US, Dreamtime was again only a moderate hit in the UK, reaching No. 16 in November 1986.

The Stranglers' final album with Cornwell, 10, was released in 1990. This was recorded with the intention of building on their "cult" status in America. Following the success of their cover of The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night", a UK No. 7 hit in 1988, The Stranglers released another '60s cover, "96 Tears" as their first single from 10; it reached No. 17 in the UK. Despite this success, the follow-up single "Sweet Smell of Success" only reached No.65. "Man of the Earth", which the band had high hopes for, was due to be the third single from the album, however Epic Records decided against it. In August 1990, Hugh Cornwell abruptly left Stranglers due to boredom, which forced the cancellation of the band's upcoming USA tour. After his sudden departure, CBS-Sony dropped Stranglers from their roster.

In August 1990, founding member Hugh Cornwell left the band to pursue a solo career. In his autobiography, Cornwell stated that he felt the band was a spent force creatively, and cited various examples of his increasingly acrimonious relationship with his fellow band-members, particularly Burnel. The remaining members recruited John Ellis, who had had a long-standing association with the band. He had opened for them in the 1970s as a member of The Vibrators, filled in for Cornwell during his time in prison for drug possession in 1980, worked with Burnel and Greenfield in their side-project Purple Helmets, and been added to the Stranglers' line-up as a touring guitarist a short time before Cornwell's departure. Burnel and Ellis briefly took over vocal duties (for one television appearance on The Word) before enlisting Paul Roberts, who sang on most songs live, even those originally sung by Burnel. This line-up recorded four albums: Stranglers in the Night (1992), About Time (1995), Written in Red (1997) and Coup de Grace (1998).

In 2000, Ellis left the band and a new guitarist, Baz Warne, was recruited.

The Stranglers achieved something of a critical and popular renaissance in 2004 with the acclaimed Norfolk Coast album and a subsequent sell-out tour, together with their first Top-40 hit (No. 31 UK) in fourteen years, "Big Thing Coming". In 2005, Coast to Coast: Live on Tour was released, the live album contained songs recorded during their tour the previous year. On their sellout UK tour they were supported by Goldblade.

In May 2006, Roberts left the band, and The Stranglers were now back to a four-piece line-up: Burnel, Black, Greenfield and Warne, with the lead vocals shared between Warne and Burnel. In concert, Burnel returned to singing the songs he originally recorded as lead vocalist, and Warne sang the numbers originally led by Hugh Cornwell.

Suite XVI, the follow-up album to Norfolk Coast, was released in September 2006 (the title is a pun on "Sweet 16" and also a reference to the fact that it was the band's sixteenth studio album) and continued the band's resurgence. Although partly a return to the band's heavier punk roots, the album featured a typically idiosyncratic mixture of musical styles which included a country and western style Johnny Cash pastiche/homage "I Hate You".

In 2007 it was reported that drummer Black was suffering from atrial fibrillation, an ailment which subsequently forced him to miss a number of shows, particularly where extended travel was required. On such occasions Ian Barnard, Black's drum technician, deputised.[18]

On 4 November 2007, the band (with Black) played a sell-out gig at the Roundhouse in Camden, North London, marking the thirtieth anniversary of their headline run at the same venue in 1977. The set list was the same as the 1977 concert, with the addition of a couple of more recent songs as a final encore. The event is recorded on the DVD Rattus at the Roundhouse.[19]

In mid-2008, The Stranglers played various major festivals around Europe. Barnard again filled in for Black at several gigs while Black continued his recuperation. However, Black was back with the band for their UK tour later in the year.[20]

In 2008, Jean-Jacques Burnel has made comments in interviews which indicate that the band could be heading into semi-retirement after the completion of their European tour in 2009.

He said: "Our drummer Jet Black is 70 now. It blows me away, the fact that he continues to play 90-minute sets. He's been unwell a couple of times and his drum tech has stood in at a few festivals, but if he was permanently out, well, I don't know what I'd do, actually. We could still record, but this is our last big tour, I think."[21]
"I think all things have to come to an end at some point, although we'll do one more album. I would love to think it will be the most beautiful album we've done."[21]

In 2009 the band played at the biggest open-air festival in Europe (400,000 – 500,000 rock fans every year) – Przystanek Woodstock[22] in Poland

2010 for the Stranglers continued their recent resurgence, starting with an extensive UK tour, including a sold-out return to the Hammersmith Apollo in March, their first visit there since 1987. They were supported on the 16 date UK tour by Max Raptor from The Midlands.[23]

A new double CD compilation album, Decades Apart, containing a selection of tracks from the full career of the band, including at least one from each of their sixteen studio albums and two new tracks, "Retro Rockets" and "I Don't See the World Like You Do" was released in February. The download version of Decades Apart included an unreleased recording from 1978, "Wasting Time", inspired by the band's 'Rock Goes To College' experience earlier that year;[9] this track, originally titled "Social Secs" was never released, and the music ended up being reversed and released as "Yellowcake UF6", the B-side to "Nuclear Device" in 1979.

Across the summer the band played a number of festivals, including Weyfest and Glastonbury and T in the Park in the UK and Oxegen 2010 in Ireland, and concerts in Japan, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The band also released a new live album and DVD, recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo in May 2010.[23] In March 2011, the band completed another UK tour. Burnel's long term friend, Wilko Johnson, was invited to bring The Wilko Johnson band on the tour. In April, the band began touring Europe, with many gigs and major festivals lined up for the entire year.

Jim Macaulay, the touring drummer

On 23 September 2012, the band returned to Looe, Cornwall, fronted by Warne and Burnel. The band had originally spent time in Looe writing Suite XVI.[24]

Giants was released in 2012, including the first instrumental on an album since "Waltzinblack" on The Gospel According to The Meninblack. The "deluxe" version consisted of a second disc containing tracks from the 'Weekend in Black' acoustic session in November 2011.[25]

2013 saw the band play a full UK tour, with Black playing the second half at most gigs (Jim Macaulay taking the first half).[26] Several festivals were booked for 2013, including a session at the BBC Proms on 12 August. For the North American tour Black was not present, with Macaulay playing the entire show.[27][28]

In 2014, the band celebrated their fortieth birthday with a Ruby Tour, throughout the UK and Europe. In 2015, the March On tour had 18 dates around the United Kingdom. Where stage space allowed, a second drum kit was set up and Jet Black appeared for a set of four songs. A proposed gig in Moscow was announced and then cancelled due to visa difficulties, but a mini-tour of the UK took place in July. The band then played gigs throughout Europe, ending in November. In April 2016, they returned to New Zealand and Australia.[29]

Black has not performed on stage with the band since partial-set appearances in March 2015, although he remains an official member of the band. Jim Macaulay appeared in a promotional photograph alongside Burnel, Greenfield and Warne for the first time in 2016, while Black was not depicted.

During an interview with Janice Long, on BBC Radio Wales, on 10 July 2018, Burnel revealed that Black continues to be in fairly poor health and had had a minor stroke earlier in 2018.

The Stranglers have expressed committed admiration for the state of Israel and dismissed any suggestion of heeding the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions call for a cultural boycott of Israel which has seen growing support by some musicians (Lorde, Roger Waters and Thurston Moore). The band first played in Israel with Blondie in 2008, again in 2016, and a third show is planned for 2018. Burnel told the Israeli press in 2016 “I don’t think the outside world realizes how cool it really is there ... They don’t realize that Israel is a democracy in a sea of fucked-up countries. A true democracy with the Left and Right able to express themselves.[30]”

1.
Guildford
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Guildford /ˈɡɪlfərd/ is a large town in Surrey, England, located 27 miles southwest of central London on the A3 trunk road midway between the capital and Portsmouth. It is the seat of the borough of Guildford, on the building of the Wey Navigation and Basingstoke Canal Guildford was connected to a network of waterways that aided its prosperity. In the 20th century, the University of Surrey and Guildford Cathedral, in Sir Thomas Malorys 1485 fictional series Le Morte dArthur, Guildford is identified with Astolat of Arthurian renown, however only rural Celtic Bronze Age pieces have been found in the town. Continuing the Arthurian connection, there is a public house. Some of the tiles built into Guildford Castle may be Roman, and it is proven by archaeology and contemporary accounts that Guildford was established as a small town by Saxon settlers shortly after Roman authority had been removed from Britain. The settlement was most likely expanded because of the Harrow Way crosses the River Wey by a ford at this point, alfred the Great, the first Anglo-Saxon king of unified England, named the town in his will. Guildford was the location of the Royal Mint from 978 until part-way through the reign of William the Conqueror, Guildford Castle is of Norman design, although there are no documents about its earliest years. Guildford appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Geldeford and Gildeford, the King officially held the 75 hagae in which lived 175 homagers and the town rendered £32. Stoke, a suburb within todays Guildford, appears in the Book as Stoch and was held by William. Its Domesday assets were,1 church,2 mills worth 5s,16 ploughlands with two Lords plough teams and 20 mens plough teams,16 acres of meadow, and woodland worth 40 hogs. Stoke was listed as being in the Kings park, with a rendering of £15, William the Conqueror had the castle built in the classic Norman style, the castle keep still stands. A major purpose of Norman castle building was to overawe the conquered population and it had £26 spent on it in 1173 under the regency of the young Henry II. As the threat of invasion and insurrection declined, the status was demoted to that of a royal hunting lodge, Guildford was, at that time. It was visited on occasions by King John, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1611 the castle was granted to Francis Carter whose grandsons initials EC, the surviving parts of the castle were restored in Victorian times and again in 2004, the rest of the grounds became a public garden. In 1995, a chamber was discovered in the High Street, while this remains a matter of contention, it is likely to be the oldest remaining synagogue in Western Europe. Guildford elected two members of the Unreformed House of Commons, from the 14th century to the 18th century the borough corporation prospered with the wool trade. In the 14th century the Guildhall was constructed and still today as a noticeable landmark of Guildford

2.
Punk rock
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Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed in the early to mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock and other forms of what is now known as proto-punk music, Punk bands typically produced short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic, many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through informal channels, the term punk was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, for the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment, by the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and street punk had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk. At the end of the 20th century, punk rock had been adopted by the mainstream, as pop punk and punk bands such as Green Day. The first wave of rock was aggressively modern, distancing itself from the bombast. According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, In its initial form, unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere, by 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock n roll. In critic Robert Christgaus description, It was also a subculture that rejected the political idealism. Technical accessibility and a DIY spirit are prized in punk rock, in the early days of punk rock, this ethic stood in marked contrast to what those in the scene regarded as the ostentatious musical effects and technological demands of many mainstream rock bands. Musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion, according to Holmstrom, punk rock was rock and roll by people who didnt have very many skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music. In December 1976, the English fanzine Sideburns published an illustration of three chords, captioned This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. The title of a 1980 single by the New York punk band Stimulators, inscribed a catchphrase for punks basic musical approach. The previous year, when the rock revolution began in Great Britain, was to be both a musical and a cultural Year Zero. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummers outlook, Punk rock is meant to be our freedom, were meant to be able to do what we want to do. Scholar Daniel S. Traber argues that attaining authenticity in the identity can be difficult, as the punk scene matured, he observes

3.
New wave music
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New wave is a genre of rock music popular from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s with ties to 1970s punk rock. New wave moved away from smooth blues and rock and roll sounds to create pop music that incorporated electronic and experimental music, mod, initially new wave was similar to punk rock, before becoming a distinct genre. It subsequently engendered subgenres and fusions, including synth-pop, college rock, common characteristics of new wave music include the use of synthesizers and electronic productions, the importance of styling and the arts, as well as diversity. In the mid-1980s, differences between new wave and other genres began to blur. New wave has enjoyed resurgences since the 1990s, after a rising nostalgia for several new wave-influenced artists, subsequently, the genre influenced other genres. During the 2000s, a number of acts explored new wave and post-punk influences, such as the Strokes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand and these acts were sometimes labeled new wave of new wave. The catch-all nature of new music has been a source of much confusion. The 1985 discography Whos New Wave in Music listed artists in over 130 separate categories, the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock calls the term virtually meaningless, while AllMusic mentions stylistic diversity. New wave first emerged as a genre in the early 1970s, used by critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh to classify such New York-based groups as the Velvet Underground. It gained currency beginning in 1976 when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin Glue and newsagent music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express. In November 1976 Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLarens term new wave to designate music by bands not exactly punk, the term was also used in that sense by music journalist Charles Shaar Murray in his comments about the Boomtown Rats. For a period of time in 1976 and 1977, the new wave. By the end of 1977, new wave had replaced punk as the definition for new music in the UK. As radio consultants in the United States had advised their clients that punk rock was a fad, like the filmmakers of the French new wave movement, its new artists were anti-corporate and experimental. At first, most U. S. writers exclusively used the new wave for British punk acts. Music historian Vernon Joynson claimed that new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, in the U. S. the first new wavers were the not-so-punk acts associated with the New York club CBGB. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, referring to the first show of the band Television at his club in March 1974, said, furthermore, many artists who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed new wave. A1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name features US artists including the Dead Boys, Ramones, Talking Heads, New wave is much more closely tied to punk and came and went more quickly in the United Kingdom than in the United States

4.
United Artists Records
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Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão was the featured soloist on the unusual recording, which was released on both LP and reel-to-reel tape. Berry Gordy placed a number of early Motown acts with UA including Marv Johnson, UA signed Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ro produce the variety of artists signed to the label after they left Atlantic. They had hits with the Exciters, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay and the Americans, UA also covered folk with the inclusion of Gordon Lightfoot on the roster, and easy listening mood music with the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher. The soundtracks from the James Bond movies and A Hard Days Night were very popular United Artists releases in the 1960s. However, the soundtrack album of United Artists film musical, West Side Story, was released by Columbia Records. As Henry Mancini was signed to RCA Victor, that handled the soundtracks of the United Artists films that he composed the music for. In addition to soundtracks and pop output, United Artists also produced a series of records under the Tale Spinners For Children name throughout the 1960s. These were album-length adaptations of fairy tales and childrens stories done in an audio drama format. United Artists also had a few labels, Unart, Ascot, United Artists Jazz, Musicor Ultra Audio. Unart was initially created in 1958 and was only in operation until 1959 producing some vocal group 45 singles, United Artists involvement with jazz was significant. The company recruited Alan Douglas in 1960 to run its new jazz department, the companys jazz included albums by Duke Ellington and Art Farmer, although there were only a few jazz titles after about 1963. In 1961, designer and photographer Frank Gauna who worked with Alan Douglas joined the company as art director after Candid Records was discontinued, Gauna photographed and designed a variety of album covers for the company. Around 1966 a subsidiary jazz label Solid State was founded, which lasted until 1969, on recordings by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra and Chick Corea. After the merger, Libertys ownership of Blue Note resulted in Solid States artists being transferred to the more prestigious label, and Solid State itself was wound up. In 1966 United Artists acquired the masters of Sue Records, a New York R&B/soul label whose artist roster included Ike & Tina Turner, Justine Baby Washington, some Sue material was reissued on Unart. United Artists Special Projects were budget records designed for product and movie tie-ins, in 1969, United Artists merged with co-owned Liberty Records and its subsidiary Imperial Records. Mainstream pop acts were signed to the label, among them being Traffic, the Spencer Davis Group, Peter Sarstedt, Shirley Bassey, the label also attempted, without success, to update the style of 1950s rock group Bill Haley & His Comets with a 1968 single. Later, through a deal with Don Ardens Jet Records

5.
A&M Records
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A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent label by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989. Today, A&Ms catalog releases are managed by Verve Records, Universal Music Enterprises, A&M Records was formed in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Their first choice for a name was Carnival Records, under which they released two singles before discovering another label had already taken the Carnival name, the company was subsequently renamed A&M, after Alperts and Mosss initials. From 1966 to 1999, the headquarters were on the grounds of the historic Charlie Chaplin Studios at 1416 North La Brea Avenue. Marc Benno, Liza Minnelli, Rita Coolidge, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Bobby Tench, Hummingbird, Toni Basil, folk artists Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Gene Clark also recorded for the label during the 1970s. Billy Preston joined the label in 1971, followed by Andre Popp, in the 1970s, under its manufacturing and distribution agreement with Ode Records, A&M released albums by Carole King and the comedy duo Cheech & Chong. On March 10,1977, A&M signed the Sex Pistols after the band had dropped by EMI. However, A&M dropped the band within a week, within a decade of its inception, A&M became the worlds largest independent record company. A&M releases were issued in the United Kingdom by EMIs Stateside Records label. From 1969, A&M set up their own UK base appointing John Deacon as General Manager - a post he held until 1979, A&M releases were also issued in Australia through Festival Records until 1989. A&M Records Ltd. was established in 1970, with distribution handled by other labels with a presence in Europe, A&M Records of Canada Ltd. was also formed in 1970, and A&M Records of Europe in 1977. In 1979, A&M entered an agreement with RCA Records in the USA. A&M was bought by PolyGram in 1989, Alpert and Moss continued to manage the label until 1993. In 1998, Alpert and Moss sued PolyGram for breach of the integrity clause, in 1991, A&M launched Perspective Records as a joint venture with producing team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis stepped down as CEOs of the imprint in 1997, in 1999, the label was absorbed into A&M. In the mid-1990s, A&M began distributing its PolyGram sister label Polydor Records in the USA, ceCe Peniston, Intelligent Hoodlum, Dred Scott, Ridel High and the Gin Blossoms. The company released the soundtracks Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, The Three Musketeers, Sabrina, The Living Sea, Demolition Man, and Lethal Weapon 3

6.
Liberty Records
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Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and it was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals. Libertys early releases focused on film and orchestral music and its first single was Lionel Newmans The Girl Upstairs. Its first big hit, in 1955, was by Julie London singing her version of the song, Cry Me a River. It helped Liberty sell her first album, Julie Is Her Name and she was to record 32 albums in her career. In 1956 Liberty signed the little-known Henry Mancini and they released two singles and several albums for him, but he left in 1959 when he gained in popularity. Billy Rose and Lee Davids song, Tonight You Belong to Me, scored a number 4 and number 28 as performed by teen sisters Patience and Prudence and their biggest early rock and roll artist was Eddie Cochran, who had just starred in his second film, Untamed Youth. His first hit for the label was John D. Loudermilks Sittin in the Balcony in 1957, then came Summertime Blues, the label was also home to R&B veterans Billy Ward and His Dominoes after Jackie Wilson quit, replacing him with ex-Lark Eugene Mumford. They hit with Hoagy Carmichaels 1927 song, Stardust – already recorded by many artists – which rode the pop chart for 24 weeks, the track also reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1957. It was to be their only million seller, the song became a number 1 hit and rescued the company. In just a few months leading up to Christmas in 1958 and it became the only Christmas record to reach number 1 on the pop chart, selling 4.5 million copies. Its success led to a string of similar albums by Denny for Liberty over the next decade. In 1965 Liberty acquired Pacific Jazz Records, founded in 1952, in 1958 Liberty formed a sublabel called Freedom Records which lasted through 1959. In 1959 Liberty moved to its long-time address at 6920 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Libertys most successful signing of the early 1960s was Bobby Vee. They picked up his single recorded for Soma with his combo the Shadows, Suzie Baby and he covered the Clovers 1955 doo-wop ballad, Devil or Angel in mid-1960 and later that year recorded Gene Pitneys Rubber Ball which made him an international star. In the summer of 1961 Vee had a big hit with Take Good Care of My Baby and he regularly had Hot 100 hits until 1970. Other major signings included Willie Nelson, Jan and Dean, Johnny Burnette, Gene McDaniels, Del Shannon, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Timi Yuro, in 1963 the Liberty Records label was sold to Avnet for $12 million. Avnet also bought Blue Note Records, Imperial Records, Dolton Records, Aladdin Records, after two years of losses, Avnet sold the labels back to Al Bennett for $8 million

7.
EMI
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EMI was a British multinational conglomerate founded in March 1931 and was based in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, it was the fourth-largest business group and its EMI Records Ltd. group of record labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records and Capitol Records. EMI also had a publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing—also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, other members of the Sony consortium include the Estate of Michael Jackson, The Blackstone Group, and Abu Dhabi–owned investment fund Mubadala Development Company. The new vertically integrated company produced sound recordings as well as recording, the companys gramophone manufacturing led to forty years of success with larger-scale electronics and electrical engineering. He was killed in 1942 whilst conducting flight trials on an experimental H2S radar set, post-war, the company resumed its involvement in making broadcasting equipment, notably providing the BBCs second television transmitter at Sutton Coldfield. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies as well as for the BBC, the commercial television ITV companies also used them alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi. Exports of this piece of equipment were low, however, the company was also for many years an internationally respected manufacturer of photomultipliers. This part of the business was transferred to Thorn as part of Thorn-EMI, in 1958 the EMIDEC1100, the UKs first commercially available all-transistor computer, was developed at Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield, an electrical engineer at EMI. In 1973 EMI was awarded a prestigious Queens Award for Technological Innovation for what was called the EMI scanner. After brief, but brilliant, success in the imaging field, EMIs manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies. Subsequently, development and manufacturing activities were sold off to companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley. Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes, Scotland, was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft, of California, US and it manufactured integrated circuits electrolytic capacitors and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, hand-held calculators under the Gemini name. Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established subsidiary operations in a number of countries in the British Commonwealth, including India, Australia. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around the world are held in EMIs temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, in 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at Abbey Road, London. During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini, Sir Edward Elgar, during this time EMI appointed its first A&R managers. These included George Martin, who brought the Beatles into the EMI fold. When the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931, at this point RCA had a majority shareholding in the new company, giving RCA chair David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board

8.
Epic Records
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Epic Records is an American record company owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953 and it later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of musical genres, including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Historically, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Shakira, Anastacia, and Sly & the Family Stone. Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainments three main record labels, L. A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014, Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe, pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epics bright-yellow, black, and blue became a familiar trademark for many jazz. By 1960, the musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records from being overstuffed with newer artists, subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck. Also during the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records, in 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year, Epic itself launched in England around 1971. Epic was involved in a trade of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies, when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furays new band Poco would sign with Epic. Also contributing to the success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987, and the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991. In 2004, Sony merged with another powerhouse music distributor, BMG, bringing labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, in February 2009, singer and songwriter Amanda Ghost was appointed president of Epic Records. Later in the year, Sony BMG Music merged Epic and Columbias operations, Sony BMGs Legacy Recordings reissues the companys classic and catalog titles

9.
Stiff Records
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Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007, Robinson and Riviera were well-known London music business characters. The label was started with a loan of £400 from Lee Brilleaux of Dr. Feelgood and its first release, on 14 August 1976, was a single by Nick Lowe, So It Goes, B-side Heart Of The City, with the striking catalogue number BUY1. That record sold 10,000 copies, but Stiffs next release, Between The Lines by Pink Fairies, november 1976 also saw the release of a single by Nottingham-based band Plummet Airlines Silver Shirt/This is the World. Plummet Airlines then went on to be featured on the John Peel show in May and August 1977, early in 1977, Stiff Records picked up speed, signing Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, and Elvis Costello. Bigger sales followed, and a deal with Island Records. A similar deal with CBS Records was set up for Stiff releases in the United States, rivieras departure coincided with the end of the 5 Live Stiffs Tour, which showcased emerging star Ian Dury. Durys album New Boots & Panties had raced up the charts and its sales kept the label in business over the following months, in 1979, Robinson signed Madness, whose considerable commercial success, both in Britain and abroad, would keep Stiff afloat for several years. Stiff expanded rapidly and moved its premises twice and it also continued to release dozens of obscure and uncommercial releases. At the end of 1983, Island Records bought 50% of Stiff, Island was very short of money at the time and Robinson had to lend it £1,000,000 to fund the share purchase and pay the payroll. Nonetheless, Robinson led Island through their best year ever, with, among others releases by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Legend by Bob Marley, Stiff signed The Pogues, but then Madness left under a cloud. The Island deal failed and Dave Robinson regained control of the independent label in 1985. Warner Music Group holds the currently to Stiffs masters and most are reissued through Rhino Entertainment. In 2007, ZTT and its parent company SPZ Group reactivated the label, Stiff quickly broke one of the UKs hottest new indie acts, The Enemy. It then released a string of well-received albums of new work from legacy Stiff artists, including as Wreckless Eric, Henry Priestman, Any Trouble, brand new acts signed to the label included The Tranzmitors and Eskimo Disco. Swedish designer Tobbe Stuhre was appointed official Stiff Records designer, in 2008, Union Square Music released The Big Stiff Box Set. This detailed catalogue release contained 98 tracks across four CDs and the 100-page The Big Stiff Book by music journalist and Stiff expert, Robinson and Riviera had arranged package tours ‒ such as the 1975 Naughty Rhythms tour ‒ for acts they managed before forming Stiff. Having signed all the artists as individuals, bands had to be formed in order to tour

10.
Castle Communications
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Castle Communications was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision, Castle Communications was acquired by the American music distributor Alliance Entertainment in 1994 and in 2000 it was absorbed into Sanctuary Records Group. The label dissolved when Sanctuary became a subsidiary of Universal Music Group in 2007 and its catalogue of masters is now owned by BMG Rights Management, with global distribution handled by Warner Music Group. It purchased a number of catalogues, including Pye, Piccadilly, Bradleys, Bronze, Black Sabbath, Sugar Hill, Transatlantic, Beserkley, All Platinum. They possessed most of the Transatlantic and Trailer catalogue and they have also diversified to reissue several early albums by the Fall as well as Pink Years and Blue Years albums by Tangerine Dream, and compilations by Nurse with Wound and Current 93. They have also released a compilation featuring songs by Canadian rock band. In the 1980s they were notable for releasing heavy metal compilations albums under the series name Metal Killers. The first signing to the Raw Power label was the NWOBHM act Hells Belles, releasing their debut album, after several years, the Raw Power imprint was retired with the alleged waning of heavy metals popularity in the UK. Castle Vision was Castle Communications home video distributor arm and it released many videotapes, including TUGS, The Raggy Dolls, Tumbledown Farm, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Youve Been Framed. The Men of our Time series, a documentary called Falklands War, The Untold Story, The Fugitive, Harrys Game and more

11.
Jet Black
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Jet Black is an English drummer and founding member of punk rock and new wave band The Stranglers. Since 2015, he has been a member of the band. Black was a successful businessman up until the mid-1970s, owning a fleet of ice cream vans, and this establishment was the base for the early Stranglers. He was also the owner of one of the earliest home brewing equipment companies and he became a full-time professional musician in the mid-1970s and met Hugh Cornwell of the band Johnny Sox after reading an advertisement in the Melody Maker magazine. Cornwell joined Black in the Stranglers in 1974 and his style is usually simple and jazz-influenced, although Duchess and Down in the Sewer are examples of Stranglers songs that feature more frantic drumming. In the mid-1980s, Black elected to cease playing acoustic drums in the studio and used a Simmons kit triggered by pick-ups, most notably on the Feline. Black is still occasionally drumming for the Stranglers, despite his advancing years and his name is frequently chanted by the crowd at concerts. Black has said he is fond of The Raven album because it was the first time the Stranglers got major critical approval in the newspapers. In 2014, Black said of the Stranglers, This is the best band in the world —, though we are not thinking about that. This has brought new freedoms of comfort and technical feasibility to drummers, the Jet Black Power Bass Drum Pedal enables the bass drum to be placed anywhere and yet remain playable. In March 2007, it was announced on the Stranglers website that Black was suffering from atrial fibrillation and consequently refrained from appearing with the band until he had recovered. He returned to playing with the band in June, but it was at time that he retired from performing outside of the United Kingdom due to health issues associated with lengthy travel. During Blacks absences, his replacement was his full-time drum technician Ian Barnard. In mid-2008, he was absent from several Stranglers gigs. It was shortly announced that he was suffering from chest problems and was not rushing back to work on the advice of his doctor. In September 2008, he returned to rehearsals and began touring with the band on 13 October. During the Stranglers 2010 and 2011 UK tours, Black performed at every gig and he played the full sets, which were approximately 90 minutes in length. On 12 March 2012, Black was taken to hospital after falling ill shortly before a Stranglers concert at the O2 Academy Oxford and he was again replaced by Barnard during the gig

12.
Jean-Jacques Burnel
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Jean-Jacques JJ Burnel is a Franco-English musician, producer and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist with the British rock band the Stranglers. Jean-Jacques Burnel was born in Notting Hill, London, to French parents, Burnel originally trained as a classical guitarist, but adopted the bass guitar as his instrument within The Stranglers. He has provided vocals on nearly a third of the bands songs. Burnel also formed a rhythm and blues band, the Purple Helmets. As a French citizen, Burnel received his papers for national service in France. He succeeded in avoiding it with a defence, arguing that his absence would indirectly damage the Stranglers as a band. This was in accordance with Burnels claim that only the bourgeois would ever agree to serve their countrys military. Burnel composed and performed music for the anime, Gankutsuou, The Count of Monte Cristo, Burnel is fluent in French and writes many of his songs in the language. Burnel is noted for his bass guitar sound and melodic bass lines. These are particularly prominent on earlier Stranglers recordings produced by Martin Rushent, later, he used a Yamaha BB2000, a Steinberger L2, and a Kinkade acoustic bass. He currently plays Shuker JJ Burnel signature basses custom-built in England by Jon Shuker and he was one of the first bass guitarists to use Trace Elliot amplification when the company began production in 1980. He now uses amplification by Ashdown Engineering who have honoured him with his own JJ500 signature amps, Burnel has been a RotoSound endorser since the early 1980s, and has featured in their advertising. Burnel is a black belt 7th dan, karate expert, and is head of Shidokan UK and he once used these skills to assault rock journalist Jon Savage after a mildly critical review. Savage was left with facial injuries and he is also a motorcyclist and has owned many Triumph motorbikes. ISBN 0-00-719082-4 Cornwell, Hugh and Drury, Jim, the Stranglers – Song by Song. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd.2001 ISBN 1-86074-362-5 The Rats Lair Ode to Joy, Issue 4, The Burning Up Times PDF, free online publication devoted to JJ Burnels 1979 debut album, Euroman Cometh. 30 years on, JJ Burnel and John Ellis are interviewed, alongside fans live Eurotour reviews and exclusive images JJ Burnel & Stranglers interviews, news and reviews at www. strangled. co. uk

13.
Dave Greenfield
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David Paul Greenfield is the keyboardist with the English rock band the Stranglers. He was born in the south coast seaside resort of Brighton, prior to The Stranglers, Greenfield played in local progressive rock band Rusty Butler. His sound and style of playing, particularly on The Stranglers debut album Rattus Norvegicus, has frequently been compared to that of Ray Manzarek of The Doors. The comparison was made at The Stranglers inception by Jean-Jacques Burnel. He is also noted for his style of playing rapid arpeggios. His distinctive sound on the early Stranglers recordings involved the use of Hohner Cembalet, Hammond L-100 electric organ, a Minimoog synthesizer, on the albums The Raven, Gospel According to the Meninblack and Aural Sculpture, Greenfield used a Korg VC-10 vocoder. On the Feline album, Greenfield began using an Oberheim OB-Xa polyphonic synthesizer, by the time of the Aural Sculpture album, he had replaced both the Hammond L-100, and Yamaha CP-30 piano with two PPG Wave digital samplers. He is also known for his technique on the keyboard and downing pints in the concert rendition, keyboard solos, of Duchess. He also frequently contributes harmony backing vocals to the bands songs, in 1981 Dave Greenfield produced the single Back To France by the band Boys In Darkness. Greenfield and fellow-Strangler Jean-Jacques Burnel released a joint album in 1983, Fire and Water, used as the soundtrack for the film, in addition to his duties with The Stranglers, Greenfield also takes part in mediaeval battle re-enactments. Until 2003, he ran a pub called The Windmill, in Somersham, Fire and Water – with Jean-Jacques Burnel

14.
Baz Warne
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Barry Baz Warne is the current guitarist and vocalist of The Stranglers. Earlier in his career, he was the guitarist and front-man of numerous bands and his first recordings to be released were with the Sunderland Punk band the Toy Dolls, whom he joined as bassist in 1983. He toured extensively with them and recorded two singles before forming the Troubleshooters in 1985, the Troubleshooters released two singles before changing their name to the Smalltown Heroes in 1992. Moral Judgement received the designation from Kerrang Magazine on its release in 1984. It was followed by their album, Human Soup, in 1996. During the recording of what was planned as their album, Atomic Cafe, in 1998, their record company pulled the plug, announcing that they had no more money. In the summer of 1998 Baz formed a cover band named Sun Devils. In 2000 Baz was invited to audition for The Stranglers, whom he had met in 1995 when Smalltown Heroes supported The Stranglers on tour and his audition was successful, and he immediately set off to play in Kosovo and then across Europe with the band. One of his first gigs with The Stranglers was captured on the Euro live DVD and he is also well known in the small Northumberland village of Belford, where he played many solo gigs at the Salmon Inn around the time he joined The Stranglers. Warne sings lead vocals on many of the tracks contained on The Stranglers most recent studio albums, in live gigs, he handles the vocals on the songs that had originally been sung by Hugh Cornwell. stranglers. net http, //www. bazwarne. com

15.
Hugh Cornwell
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Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the vocalist and guitarist for the punk rock/new wave band the Stranglers from 1974 to 1990. Cornwell grew up in Tufnell Park and Kentish Town and attended William Ellis School in Highgate, in the late 1960s, after earning a bachelors degree in biochemistry from Bristol University, he embarked on post-graduate research at Lund University in Sweden. Not long after his arrival he formed the band Johnny Sox, Cornwell returned to the UK in 1974 with Johnny Sox. Jet Black then joined the band, at one stage it was just Cornwell and Black, who were then joined by Jean-Jacques Burnel. Hans Wärmling, on holiday from Sweden, joined the line-up towards the end of 1974, the Johnny Sox name was dropped, with the band adopting the name The Guildford Stranglers before settling on The Stranglers. Wärmling was soon replaced by Dave Greenfield, who joined in 1975 after answering an advertisement placed in the Melody Maker, Cornwell was the lead guitarist in the group and he also sang the majority of songs. By 1977 the group had secured a contract with United Artists Records, they went on to become the band to emerge from the UK punk scene, with numerous hit singles. By the time Cornwell reached his thirties the British punk scene had started to fade, and he recorded his first album away from the group, Nosferatu, in collaboration with the Captain Beefhearts Magic Bands drummer, Robert Williams, in 1979. In 1990 he decided that the band could go no further artistically and he recorded the album 10 with the band before leaving after 16 years. After leaving the Stranglers, Cornwell worked with Roger Cook and Andy West as CCW and their self-titled album was released in 1992, with five tracks co-produced by Neil Davidge. Cornwell has released solo albums including Wolf produced by Ian Ritchie, Wired, Guilty, Hi Fi, Footprints in the Desert, Mayday, In the Dock. Wired, Guilty and Hi Fi were released under different names, beyond Elysian Fields was initially released by Track Records in the UK, followed by Invisible Hands Music in the rest of the world, with expanded artwork. In 2006 a live album in two forms appeared, People Places Pieces, a triple CD box set, accompanied by a simultaneously released mass-market highlights disc, the 12-track highlights disc, Live It and Breathe It, was released in 2005 in advance of the box set. In December 2006 Cornwell toured with Blondie in the UK, three new songs were previewed, Bangin On, Please Dont Put Me On A Slow Boat To Trowbridge and Delightful Nightmare. After this tour, the stool was taken over by Chris Bell. In June 2008 Cornwell followed in the footsteps of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails by offering his new album Hooverdam as a download on his website. Hooverdam was recorded at Toe Rag Studios with record producer, Liam Watson, the album was accompanied by a film, Blueprint, which depicted the recording process of the album. Cornwell explained that the film was partly motivated by the quality of DVDs accompanying contemporary CD releases

16.
Paul Roberts (musician)
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Paul Roberts is an English singer who was the lead singer of The Stranglers between 1990 and 2006. He replaced Hugh Cornwell in The Stranglers in 1990 and appeared on and co-wrote their studio albums Stranglers In the Night, About Time, Written in Red, Coup de Grace, and Norfolk Coast. He performed live as a frontman, as The Stranglers recruited separate guitarist John Ellis and later Baz Warne to co-replace Cornwell. Paul left The Stranglers after almost 16 years in May 2006, the split was officially described as amicable. The band reverted to a four-piece with Warne taking over lead vocals, Soulsec is the title of his current project, and to date he has written the albums FAITH. Self Discovery, The Pressure Sensitive 2007sEnd Games and the current 5,4 now, also the singles God, When Reason Sleeps,8 Days and Swim. There have also been several live and studio CDs. Soulsec was in existence as a side-project for some of the years he was still with The Stranglers. He played the role of Pop Larkin in the premiere of The Darling Buds of May-Perfick. This was a based on H. E. Bates novel The Darling Buds of May, written by David Burton. The show ran for a week in April 2008 at The Kings Theatre and its level of success is currently not known. Appeared in Cranford as a character alongside Dame Judy Dench. He also will appear at the beginning of the new Harry Potter movie due in summer 2009, Paul is currently working with Stephen Donald from Blood Brothers and Brookside in the north of England. He also croons in a five-piece jazz/lounge outfit known as Manhattan Swing and they played at The Olde Bell in Hurley, UK for their 2008/09 New Year masked ball. In 2009, he acted as an adjudicator for the Hastings Musical Festival, in 2010, Paul has been singing as Frank Sinatra alongside Laura Nixons Marilyn Monroe and Suspiciously Elvis at sell-out shows at the Brighton night Alive & Swinging. Paul is currently preparing his next show, Lets Dance - Paul Roberts Sings David Bowie, presented by the British Theatre Playhouse in Singapore. In December 2005, he was involved in a car crash in which his car was thrown into the air and landed upside down. He is an avid fund-raiser for a cancer charity

17.
Pub rock (United Kingdom)
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Pub rock is a rock music genre that was developed in the early to mid-1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive, although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and clubs of its early years. It was the catalyst for the British punk rock scene, Pub rock was deliberately nasty, dirty and post-glam. Dress style was based around denim and plaid shirts, tatty jeans, the figureheads of the movement, Dr. Feelgood, were noted for their frontman’s filthy white suit. Bands looked menacing and threatening, like villains on The Sweeney, according to David Hepworth, Dr Feelgood looked as if they had come together in some unsavoury section of the army. Pub rock groups disdained any form of flash, scene leaders like Dr. Lesser acts played funky soul or country rock. The scene was primarily a live phenomenon, during the peak years of 1972 to 1975, there was just one solitary Top 20 single, and all the bands combined sold less than an estimated 150,000 albums. Many acts suffered in the transition from pub to studio and were unable to recapture their sound, the genre’s primary characteristic is, as the name suggests, the pub. By championing smaller venues, the bands reinvigorated a local scene that had dwindled since the 1960s as bands priced themselves into big theatres. New aspiring bands could now find venues to play without needing to have a company behind them. Pub Rock was primarily restricted to Greater London with some overspill into Essex, although the belt in Scotland also produced local bands such as The Cheetahs. American country-rock band Eggs over Easy were the precursors of the movement when they broke the jazz-only policy of the Tally Ho pub in Kentish Town and they were impressive enough to inspire local musicians such as Nick Lowe. Most of the venues were in large Victorian pubs north of Regents Park where there were plenty of suitable pubs, one of the most notable venues was the Hope and Anchor pub on Islingtons Upper Street, still a venue. Out of London, venues included the Dagenham Roundhouse, the Grand in Leigh on Sea and this network of venues later formed a ready-made launch pad for the punk scene. In 1974, pub rock was the hottest scene in London, at that point it seemed that nearly every large pub in London was supplying live music, along with hot snacks and the occasional stripper. The figureheads were Essex-based R&B outfit Dr. Feelgood, by Autumn 1975, they were joined by acts such as The Stranglers, Roogalator, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Kilburn and the High Roads, and Joe Strummers 101ers. Pub rock was rapidly overtaken by the UK punk explosion after spawning what are now seen as several proto-punk bands, some artists were able to make the transition by jumping ship to new outfits, notably Joe Strummer, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello. A few stalwarts were later able to realise Top 40 chart success, many of the actual pubs themselves survived as punk venues, but a range of notable pubs such as the George Robey and the Pied Bull have since been closed or demolished

18.
Art rock
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Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from teen entertainment to an artistic statement, influences may be drawn from genres such as experimental rock, avant-garde music, classical music, and jazz. The genres greatest level of popularity was in the early 1970s through British artists, art rock is most associated with a certain period of rock music, beginning in 1966–67 and ending with the arrival of punk in the mid 1970s. After, the genre would be infused within later popular music genres of the 1970s–90s, in the rock music of the 1970s, the art descriptor was generally understood to mean aggressively avant-garde or pretentiously progressive. Art rock is used synonymously with progressive rock. Historically, the term has been used to describe at least two related, but distinct, types of rock music, art rock emphasizes Romantic and autonomous traditions, in distinction to the aesthetic of the everyday and the disposable embodied by art pop. Common characteristics include album-oriented music divided into compositions rather than songs, with complicated and long instrumental sections. Its music was used within the context of concept records. Compared to progressive rock, art rock is more challenging, noisy and unconventional and less classically influenced, art rock can also to refer to either classically driven rock, or a progressive rock-folk fusion. S. Eliot than to Carl Perkins or Willie Dixon, the boundaries between art and pop music became increasingly blurred throughout the second half of the 20th century. The first usage of the art rock, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. As pop musics dominant format transitioned from singles to albums, many rock bands created works that aspired to make grand artistic statements, as it progressed in the late 1960s – in tandem with the development of progressive rock – art rock acquired notoriety alongside experimental rock. According to biographer Richard Williams, created a new concept, the producer as overall director of the creative process, Spector transformed rock music as a performing art to an art which could only exist in the recording studio, which paved the way for art rock. The Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson is also cited as one of the first examples of the music producer. Like Spector, Wilson was known as an eremitic studio obsessive who laboriously produced fantastical soundscapes through his mastery of recording technology. Biographer Peter Ames Carlin wrote that Wilson was the forerunner of a new kind of art-rock that would combine the transcendent possibilities of art with the accessibility of pop music. According to journalist Richard Goldstein, many musicians from California desired to be acknowledged as artists. They yearned for fame, as only needy people can, but they wanted to make art

19.
Gothic rock
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Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the ties they had to the English punk rock. Proto-gothic bands include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, the genre itself was defined as a separate movement from post-punk due to its darker music accompanied by introspective and romantic lyrics. Gothic rock then gave rise to a subculture that included clubs, fashion. Reynolds described the style as consisting of deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison. Siouxsie and the Banshees tended to use flanging guitar effects, producing a brittle, cold, several acts used drum machines downplaying the rhythms backbeat. Gothic rock typically deals with dark themes addressed through lyrics and the musics atmosphere, the poetic sensibilities of the genre led gothic rock lyrics to exhibit literary romanticism, morbidity, existentialism, religious symbolism or supernatural mysticism. Musicians who initially shaped the aesthetics and musical conventions of gothic rock include Marc Bolan, the Velvet Underground, the Doors, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, journalist Kurt Loder would write that the song All Tomorrows Parties by the Velvet Underground is a mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece. However, Reynolds considers Alice Cooper as the true ungodly godfather of goth due to his theatrics, Nicos 1969 album The Marble Index is sometimes described as the first Goth album. With its stark sound, somber lyrics, and Nicos deliberate change in her look, J. G. Ballard was a strong lyrical influence for many of the early gothic rock groups, the Birthday Party drew on Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire. In 1976, Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice was published, the main character, although dark, wanted companionship and love. The book, according to music journalist Dave Thompson, slowly created an audience for gothic rock by word of mouth, the same year saw the punk rock band the Damned debut. The groups vocalist, Dave Vanian, was a gravedigger who dressed like a vampire. Critic John Stickney used the gothic rock to describe the music of the Doors in October 1967. Stickney wrote that the band met the journalists in the gloomy vaulted wine cellar of the Delmonico hotel, the author noted that contrary to the pleasant, amusing hippies, there was violence in their music and a dark atmosphere on stage during their concerts. In the late 1970s, the gothic was used to describe the atmosphere of post-punk bands like Siouxsie. In March 1979, Kent used the adjective in his review of Magazines second album. Kent noted that there was a new sense of authority to their music

20.
Golden Brown
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Golden Brown is a song by the English rock band the Stranglers. It was released as a 7 single in December 1981 in the United States and in January 1982 in the United Kingdom and it was the second single released from the bands sixth album La Folie. It peaked at No.2 in the UK Singles Chart, in January 2014, NME ranked the song as No.488 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It has also recorded by many other artists. It reached No.2 in the official UK Singles Chart in February 1982, the single was a top 10 hit around the world, including Australia. It was also featured in the films Snatch and He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, there has been much controversy surrounding the lyrics. In his book The Stranglers Song By Song, Hugh Cornwell states Golden Brown works on two levels and its about heroin and also about a girl. Essentially the lyrics describe how both provided me with pleasurable times, the main body of the song has a 3/4 feel and is pitched halfway between the keys of E minor and E-flat minor, possibly to accommodate the tuning of the harpsichord. The instrumental introduction, in B minor, is unconventional, the keyboard and harpsichord vamp in 3/4, and every fourth bar is in 4/4. The music was written by keyboardist Dave Greenfield and drummer Jet Black. The BBC newsreader Bill Turnbull attempted to waltz to the song in the 2005 series of Strictly Come Dancing, the performance scenes were filmed in the Leighton House Museum in Holland Park, London. In 1996, Spookey Ruben released a cover of the song on his live album Wendy McDonald – Live in Japan, in 1996, British hip hop group Kaleef had a UK Top 40 hit with their re-working of this song. In 1997, soul singer Omar revived the song and took it back into the UK Top 40, in 1997, Emer Kenny included the song in her self-titled album. In 2006, English jazz singer-songwriter Symeon Cosburn covered the song on his album Breakfast With The Blues, in 2007, British singer Jamelia sampled the song with her single No More. Also in 2007, fictional character Janey York sang this song in the first series of Benidorm, in 2008, the British band Cult with No Name recorded a piano-based cover of the song on their album Careful What You Wish For. In 2009, Frankmusik sampled Golden Brown in his song When Youre Around, in 2010, the song was one of the contemporary classics featured by the Jamaican band The Jolly Boys on their Great Expectation album. Also in 2010, the song was covered by the scrumpy, also in 2010, a guitar version of Golden Brown was done by Fiach Moriarty. In 2013, a version of Golden Brown by the French cover band Nouvelle Vague was posted on YouTube, a Mexican version of the song was made by Mariachi Mexteca featuring ex-Stranglers vocalist Hugh Cornwell

21.
Peaches (The Stranglers song)
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Peaches is a song and single by The Stranglers. It was one of the big hits of 1977 in the UK. The track peaked at No.8 in the UK Singles Chart, while God Save the Queen was notorious for its political sentiment, Peaches was controversial because of its sexual content, the songs narrator is girl-watching on a crowded beach one hot summer day. It is never clear if his lascivious thoughts are an interior monologue, comments to his mates. Critic Tom Maginnis writes that Hugh Cornwell sings with a lecherous sneer, the lyrics of the song include a word that sounds like clitoris, albeit pronounced with an emphasis on the second syllable, Is she trying to get out of that clitORis. The song is driven by a prominent and distinctive bass line, still, Peaches was ranked at No.18 among the top Tracks of the Year for 1977 by NME, and it reached No.8 in the UK Singles Chart. The radio cut, however, had to be re-recorded with less explicit lyrics, clitoris was replaced with bikini, oh shit with oh no, the catalogue number of the radio version was FREE4. An edited version of Peaches, minus the lyrics was used as the theme tune to many of TV chef Keith Floyds Floyd on. It also featured as the music in the opening sequence of 2000 British film Sexy Beast. The song is also on the track of the game Driver. In the Netherlands it was used by Adidas in advertising in 2002 and it featured on the opening sequence of an episode of soap opera Hollyoaks in early October 2006. The song is used in episode 16 of the BBC series Being Human, dub Pistols covered the song on their 2007 album Speakers and Tweeters. The song featured Rodney P on guest MC vocals and Terry Hall of The Specials singing the chorus. Audio Bullys included it in their installment of the Back to Mine series of after hours grooving DJ mix albums, the 2011 film Killer Elite featured the song. The single was re-issued, with Go Buddy Go on green vinyl and with a new sleeve for the 2014 Record Store Day

22.
Always the Sun
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Always the Sun is a song by English rock band The Stranglers, first released as a single on 6 October 1986, the second single from the album Dreamtime. A remixed version was released as a single on 24 December 1990, both versions were top thirty hits in the United Kingdom. Always the Sun was released in October 1986 in four different formats, a seven inch single, shaped seven inch picture disc, twelve inch single, despite radio play and much hype, it only reached #30 in the UK Singles Chart. However, it was a hit throughout Europe and nearly broke The Stranglers in the United States due to radio play, the song also reached #21 in Australia. Hugh Cornwell mentioned in his book The Stranglers Song by Song that he thought it could have been as big as Golden Brown and he recalls going to CBS for a midweek prediction on how the song would chart and was amazed at the bad news. The video for Always the Sun showed the Stranglers performing in a dark room, during the song, after Cornwell sings Who has the fun. Is it always a man with a gun and he takes out a gun and shoots the Aztec Sun Calendar Wheel, which then shatters. The cover of the single shows The Stranglers band logo and the Aztec Sun Calendar Wheel glyph on a black background, following Hugh Cornwells departure from the band in August 1990, Epic Records decided to release a greatest hits compilation album. To promote this compilation, a remix of Always the Sun was released as a single on 24 December 1990, the remix consisted of extra guitar work from new guitarist John Ellis and a slight variation in the music, although Hugh Cornwells original vocals were still used. Like the original, the single got good airplay, but this peaked at #29. 1997, Dire Straits 2003, Hugh Cornwell 2014, Get Well Soon Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

23.
Norfolk Coast (album)
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Norfolk Coast is the fifteenth album by The Stranglers, and was released on 16 February 2004. It was their first album in six years and their first studio album with new guitarist Baz Warne, a number of songs were written by Warne, including the ballad Dutch Moon. Norfolk Coast peaked at No.70 in the UK Albums Chart in February, the album was well received by reviewers and fans alike, showing a return to form of the band. It also spawned the bands UK first Top 40 hit single for more than a decade, the album saw the re-emergence of some of their signature sounds, such as Dave Greenfields swirling keyboards, in a contemporary setting. This was also the last album to feature Paul Roberts on lead vocals, norfolk Coast was also the name of a short film starring Jean Jacques Burnel. It is available on the DVD On Stage On Screen and features rearranged music from the album. Directed by Robin Bextor and co-starring Susannah York the film won a number of awards

24.
Misanthropy
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Misanthropy is the general hatred, distrust or contempt of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings, the words origin is from the Greek words μῖσος and ἄνθρωπος. The condition is often confused with asociality, misanthropy has been ascribed to a number of writers of satire, such as William S. Gilbert and William Shakespeare. Jonathan Swift is widely believed to be misanthropic, molières play The Misanthrope is one of the more famous French plays on this topic. Less famous, but more contemporary is the 1970 play by Françoise Dorin, Un sale égoïste which takes the point of view of the misanthrope, fernando Pessoas factless autobiography The Book of Disquiet has been described as misanthropic. In Western philosophy, misanthropy has been connected to isolation from human society, and when it happens to someone often. There is a difference between philosophical pessimism and misanthropy, immanuel Kant said that Of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing can ever be made, and yet this was not an expression of the uselessness of mankind itself. Kant further stated that hatred of mankind can take two forms, aversion from men and enmity towards them. The condition can arise partly from dislike and partly from ill-will and this might be thought of as more of a criticism of conformity rather than people in general. Certain thinkers such as Ibn al-Rawandi, a skeptic of Islam, and Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi often expressed misanthropic views

25.
Alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom
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Throughout the United Kingdom, the sale of alcohol is restricted—pubs, restaurants, shops and other premises must be licensed by the local authority. Every Premises Licence which authorises the sale of alcohol must also name a Designated Premises Supervisor who must hold a valid Personal Licence – otherwise alcohol cannot be sold at that premises, the DPS has day-to-day responsibility for the sale of alcohol at licensed premises. Premises licences, in as far as they concern the sale of alcohol, however, these distinctions are not explicitly made in the Licensing Act 2003, and the position in Scotland and Northern Ireland is more complex. Many on-licensed premises also permit off-sales, the age at which people are legally allowed to purchase alcohol is 18 in most circumstances. Adults purchasing alcohol on behalf of a person under 18 in a pub or from an off-licence are potentially liable to prosecution along with the vendor. However, legislation does allow for the consumption of alcohol by those under 18 in the circumstances, The individual is aged 5 or older. The individual is aged 16 or 17 and the alcohol, which can only be beer, the person making the purchase must themselves be over 18. The Licensing Act 2003 thoroughly revised and consolidated into one Act all the many separate legislative provisions that previously covered licensed premises in England, the Licensing Act 2005 brought the same reforms to Scotland. The same reforms have been proposed for Northern Ireland, but have not been enacted, in the mid-18th century, gin became extremely popular as it was much cheaper to buy than beer. This was known as the gin epidemic, by 1740, six times more gin than beer was being produced, and of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London, half were gin-shops. The Gin Act 1736 imposed a high duty on gin, but this caused rioting. The Gin Act 1751 was more successful, instead of a tax it restricted gin producers to selling only to licensed premises, during the 19th century, licensing laws began to restrict the opening hours of premises. The Sunday Closing Act 1881 required the closure of all houses in Wales on Sundays. After the outbreak of World War I the Defence of the Realm Act was passed by Parliament in 1914, one section of the Act concerned the hours pubs could sell alcohol, as it was believed that alcohol consumption would interfere with the war effort. It restricted opening hours for licensed premises to luncheon and supper, significantly revised rules were introduced in November 2005, when hour limits were scrapped, and pubs were allowed to apply for licences as permissive as 24 hours a day. In practice, most pubs chose to apply for more restrictive licences, is still often used to announce the last opportunity to purchase drinks, typically ten or fifteen minutes in advance and is often announced via a bell. At the point when the bar no longer serve drinks. The wartime restrictions in Scotland were repealed in 1976, as a result, Scottish laws were generally less restrictive, with local authorities being allowed to determine opening hours

26.
Ilford
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Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located 9.1 miles north-east of Charing Cross and is one of the metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Ilford forms a significant commercial and retail centre surrounded by residential development. It was historically a rural settlement in the county of Essex and its strategic position on the River Roding. Since 1965 it has formed part of Greater London, but it is considered by some to be in Essex because of the postal county. Despite the Royal Mail no longer using official postal counties, Ilford is part of the IG postcode area, though areas to the west of Ilford Hill and the A406 are part of E postcode area instead. Ilford was historically known as Great Ilford to differentiate it from nearby Little Ilford, the name is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ilefort and means ford over the Hyle, an old name for the River Roding that means trickling stream. The only complete skull of a mammoth discovered in the United Kingdom was unearthed in 1860 at the site where Boots the Chemist now stands in the High Road. The skull can now be seen in the Natural History Museum and other animal remains can be seen at Redbridge Museum, Central Library. Redevelopment has destroyed much of the evidence for early Ilford, but the oldest evidence for human occupation is the 1st and this was situated between the Roding and Ilford Lane and is recorded in 18th century plans. Roman finds have also made in the vicinity. A nearby mound called Lavender Mount existed into the 1960s, when it was removed during building work at Howards chemical works, excavation has shown that the latter may have been a 16th-century beacon-mound. Archaeological discoveries are displayed at Redbridge Museum, Ilford straddled the important road from London to Colchester. The Middlesex and Essex Turnpike Trust controlled and maintained the road from 1721, the River Roding was made navigable for barges as far as Ilford Bridge from 1737. Ilford remained largely rural until its expansion in the 19th century and this brought about brickworks, cement works and coal yards to service the new buildings, largely centred on the River Roding. In 1839, a station was opened on the line from Romford to Mile End. The early businesses gave way to new industries, such as making and services such as steam laundries and collar making. A number of businesses have been founded in the town, including the eponymous photographic film

27.
Notting Hill
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Notting Hill is an affluent district in West London, located north of Kensington within the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea as well as Westminster. Notting Hill is known for being a neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival. For much of the 20th century, the houses were subdivided into multi-occupancy rentals. Since it was first developed in the 1820s, Notting Hill has had an association with artists, the area in the west around Pottery Lane was used in the early 19th century for making bricks and tiles out of the heavy clay dug in the area. The clay was shaped and fired in a series of brick, the only remaining 19th-century tile kiln in London is on Walmer Road. In the same area, pig farmers moved in after being forced out of the Marble Arch area, avondale Park was created in 1892 out of a former area of pig slurry called the Ocean. This was part of a general clean-up of the area which had known as the Potteries and Piggeries. The area remained rural until the expansion of London reached Bayswater in the early 19th century. The main landowner in Notting Hill was the Ladbroke family, working with the architect and surveyor Thomas Allason, Ladbroke began to lay out streets and houses, with a view to turning the area into a fashionable suburb of the capital. Many of these bear the Ladbroke name, including Ladbroke Grove, the main north-south axis of the area, and Ladbroke Square. The original idea was to call the district Kensington Park, the local telephone prefix 7727 is based on the old telephone exchange name of PARk. Ladbroke left the business of developing his land to the firm of City solicitors, Smith, Bayley. In 1823 Allason completed a plan for the layout of the portion of the estate. This marks the genesis of his most enduring idea – the creation of large communal gardens, originally known as pleasure grounds, or paddocks. To this day these communal garden squares continue to provide the area much of its attraction for the wealthiest householders. In 1837 the Hippodrome racecourse was laid out, the racecourse ran around the hill, and bystanders were expected to watch from the summit of the hill. However, the venture was not a success, in due to a public right of way which traversed the course. The Hippodrome closed in 1841, after which development resumed and houses were built on the site, at the summit of hill stands the elegant St Johns church, built in 1845 in the early English style, and which formed the centrepiece of the Ladbroke Estate development

28.
Kentish Town
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Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. The name of Kentish Town is probably derived from Ken-ditch meaning the bed of a waterway and is unrelated to Kent. Kentish Town was originally a settlement on the River Fleet. It is first recorded during the reign of King John as kentisston, by 1456 Kentish Town was a thriving hamlet. In this period a chapel of ease was built for its inhabitants, between the availability of public transport to it from London, and its urbanisation, it was a popular resort. Large amounts of land were purchased to build the railway, which can still be seen today, Kentish Town was a prime site for development as the Kentish Town Road was a major route from London northwards. Karl Marx was a resident, living at 46 Grafton Terrace from 1856. 1877 saw the beginning of work in the area as it was then poor. The mission first held their services outside but as their funding increased they built a house, chapel. One mission house of the area was Lyndhurst Hall which remained in use before being taken over by the Council, the Council wished it to sell it for residential use, and the hall was demolished in 2006. All these streets lay behind the Oxford Arms, some of the freehold of these streets is still in the name of Christ Church Oxford. A network of streets in the north of Kentish Town was formerly part of an estate owned by St Johns College, Cambridge. Lady Margaret Road is named after Lady Margaret Beaufort, foundress of St Johns College, Burghley Road is named after Lord Burghley, Chancellor to Elizabeth I and benefactor of St Johns. Similarly, College Lane, Evangelist Road and Lady Somerset Road are street names linked to the estate of St Johns College. In 1912 the Church of St. Silas the Martyr was finally erected and consecrated and it can still be seen today along with the church of St Luke with St Paul and the Church of St. Barnabas. The present Church of England parish church is St. Benets, in his poem Parliament Hill Fields, Sir John Betjeman refers to the curious Anglo-Norman parish church of Kentish Town. Kentish Town Road contains one of Londons many disused Tube stations, south Kentish Town tube station was closed in June 1924 after strike action at the Lots Road power station meant the lift could not be used. It never reopened as a station, although it was used as an air raid shelter during World War II

29.
Brighton
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Brighton /ˈbraɪtən/ is a seaside resort on the south coast of England. It is part of the county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman. The ancient settlement of Brighthelmstone was documented in the Domesday Book, Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses. Brighton continued to grow as a centre of tourism following the arrival of the railways in 1841. Many of the attractions were built in the Victorian era, including the Grand Hotel, the West Pier. Brighton attracted 7.5 million day visitors in 2015/16 and 4.9 million overnight visitors, Brighton has also been called the UKs hippest city, and the happiest place to live in the UK. Brightons earliest name was Bristelmestune, recorded in the Domesday Book, although more than 40 variations have been documented, Brighthelmstone was the standard rendering between the 14th and 18th centuries. Brighton was originally a shortened form, first seen in 1660, it gradually supplanted the longer name. Brighthelmstone was the official name until 1810, though. The name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, most scholars believe that it derives from Beorthelm + tūn—the homestead of Beorthelm, a common Old English name associated with villages elsewhere in England. The tūn element is common in Sussex, especially on the coast, an alternative etymology taken from the Old English words for stony valley is sometimes given but has less acceptance. Brighthelm gives its name to, among other things, a church, the town was originally split in half by the Wellesbourne, a winterbourne which was culverted and buried in the 18th century. Poet Horace Smith called it The Queen of Watering Places, which is widely used. Novelist William Makepeace Thackeray referred to Doctor Brighton, calling the one of the best of Physicians. London-by-Sea is well-known, reflecting Brightons popularity with Londoners as a resort, a commuter dormitory. The Queen of Slaughtering Places, a pun on Smiths description, the mid 19th-century nickname School Town referred to the remarkable number of boarding, charity and church schools in the town at the time

30.
Blues
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Blues is a genre and musical form originated by African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The genre developed from roots in African musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blue notes, usually thirds or fifths flattened in pitch, are also a part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove, Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times, Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the troubles experienced in African-American society. Many elements, such as the format and the use of blue notes. The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American community. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery and, later and it is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century, the first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, such as Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues, World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a form called blues rock evolved. The term blues may have come from blue devils, meaning melancholy and sadness, the phrase blue devils may also have been derived from Britain in the 1600s, when the term referred to the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils, by the 1800s in the United States, the term blues was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase blue law, which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday. Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, in lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood. The lyrics of traditional blues verses probably often consisted of a single line repeated four times. Two of the first published songs, Dallas Blues and Saint Louis Blues, were 12-bar blues with the AAB lyric structure. Handy wrote that he adopted this convention to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three times, the lines are often sung following a pattern closer to rhythmic talk than to a melody

31.
Richard Thompson (musician)
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Richard John Thompson, OBE is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He made his début as a recording artist as a member of Fairport Convention in September 1967 and he continues to write and record new material regularly and frequently performs live at venues throughout the world. Thompson was awarded the Orville H. Gibson Award for best acoustic guitar player in 1991, similarly, his songwriting has earned him an Ivor Novello Award and, in 2006, a lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio. Artists who have recorded Thompsons compositions include such talents as Del McCoury. David Byrne, and The Blind Boys of Alabama, Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music. On 5 July 2011, he was awarded a doctorate by the University of Aberdeen. Richard John Thompson was born in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting Hill, West London and his father, a Scot, was by profession a Scotland Yard detective, and an amateur guitar player, several other family members had played music professionally. While attending William Ellis School in Highgate, he formed his first band Emil and his father had seen Django Reinhardt play in Glasgow in the 1930s and played guitar himself. He was later described by his son as a bad amateur player, with three chords, though, unfortunately, not C, F and G. All these musical genres were to colour Thompsons playing in the years to come, Joe Boyd said, He can imitate almost any style, and often does, but is instantly identifiable. In his playing you can hear the evocation of the Scottish pipers drone, by the age of 18 Thompson was playing with the newly formed Fairport Convention. Thompsons guitar playing caught the ear of American producer Joe Boyd, largely on the strength of Thompsons playing Boyd took them under his wing and signed them to his Witchseason production and management company. Boyd said, And there was group of very nice Muswell Hill grammar school boys. Leonard Cohen songs, and Richard Fariña songs, and Bob Dylan songs, and then came the guitar solo, and Richard just played the most amazing solo. He played a solo which quotes from Django, from Charlie Christian, you know, and that really amazed me, the breadth of his sophistication. And so, you know, at the end of the gig I was in the room saying would you guys like to make a record. Shortly thereafter Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as a guitar player. This seems to have out of necessity as Fairport Convention was essentially a cover band at first

32.
Psychedelic rock
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Many psychedelic groups differ in style, and the label is often used indiscriminately. Musically, the effects may be represented via novelty studio tricks, electronic or non-Western instrumentation, disjunctive song structures, some of the earlier 1960s psychedelic rock musicians were based in folk, jazz, and the blues, while others showcased an explicit Indian classical influence called raga rock. In the 1960s, there existed two main variants of the genre, the whimsical British pop-psychedelia, and the harder American West Coast acid rock. While acid rock is often deployed interchangeably with the psychedelic rock, it can also refer more specifically to the heavier. The genre bridged the transition from early blues- and folk-based rock to rock and hard rock. Since the late 1970s it has revived in various forms of neo-psychedelia. The term psychedelic was first coined in 1956 by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond as a descriptor for hallucinogenic drugs in the context of psychedelic psychotherapy. As the countercultural scene developed in San Francisco, the acid rock. In the popular music of the early 1960s, it was common for producers, songwriters, and engineers to freely experiment with form, arrangements, unnatural reverb. Some of the best known examples are Phil Spectors Wall of Sound production formula, there was no transition to be made. You go from things like Flying Purple People Eater to I Am the Walrus, music critic Richie Unterberger says that attempts to pin down the first psychedelic record are therefore nearly as elusive as trying to name the first rock & roll record. Some of the far-fetched claims include the instrumental Telstar and the Dave Clark Fives massively reverb-laden Any Way You Want It, the first mention of LSD on a rock record was the Gamblers 1960 surf instrumental LSD25. American folk singer Bob Dylan was an influence on mid 1960s rock music. He led directly to the creation of rock and the psychedelic rock musicians that followed. Molly Longman of mic. com writes that, in terms of bridging the relationship between music and hallucinogens, the Beatles and the Beach Boys were the eras most pivotal acts. The considerable success enjoyed by these two bands allowed them the freedom to experiment with new technology over entire albums. In Unterbergers opinion, the Byrds, emerging from the Californian folk scene, with their ominous minor key melodies, hyperactive instrumental breaks, and use of Gregorian chants. In the songs lyric, the requests, Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship

33.
The Doors
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The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were unique and among the most controversial and influential acts of the 1960s, mostly because of Morrisons lyrics and charismatic. After Morrisons death in 1971 at age 27, the members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. Signing with Elektra Records in 1966, The Doors released eight albums between 1967 and 1971, All but one hit the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum or better. By the end of 1971, it was reported that The Doors had sold 4,190,457 albums domestically and 7,750,642 singles. The band had three million-selling singles in the U. S. with Light My Fire, Hello, I Love You, after Morrisons death in 1971, the surviving trio released two albums Other Voices and Full Circle with Manzarek and Krieger sharing lead vocals. The three members also collaborated on the spoken word recording of Morrisons An American Prayer in 1978, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited in 2000 for an episode of VH1s Storytellers and subsequently recorded Stoned Immaculate, The Music of The Doors with a variety of vocalists. Although the Doors active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted, According to the RIAA, they have sold 33 million certified units in the US and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines, including Rolling Stone, the Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold and platinum LPs. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger started playing again, branding themselves as the Doors of the 21st Century. Densmore opted to sit out and, along with the Morrison estate, sued the duo over proper use of the bands name and won. After a short time as Riders On the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek-Krieger and continued to tour until Manzareks death in 2013 at the age of 74. Three of the studio albums, the self-titled debut, L. A. Woman, and Strange Days, were featured in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at positions 42,362. According to The Washington Posts Martin Weil, the rose to the center of the counterculture of the 1960s. The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and with Manzareks encouragement sang Moonlight Drive. The members came from a musical background of jazz, rock, blues. In August, Densmore joined the group, which had renamed the Doors. This has circulated widely since then as a bootleg recording, in mid-1965, after Manzareks two brothers left, the group recruited guitarist Robby Krieger and the best-known lineup – Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore – was complete

34.
The Music Machine
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The Music Machine was an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1966. Fronted by chief songwriter and lead vocalist Sean Bonniwell, the band cultivated a characteristically dark, sometimes it made use of distorted guitar lines and hallucinogenic organ parts, punctuated by Bonniwells distinctively throaty vocals. Although they only managed to attain national chart success with two singles, the Music Machine is today considered by many critics to be a one of the groundbreaking acts of the 1960s. In 1965, the band together as a folk rock trio known as the Raggamuffins. The group was known for their style of dress, clothing themselves in all-black attire. In 1966, the Music Machine was signed to Original Sound and their debut album The Music Machine and the moderate hit The People in Me followed. The bands original lineup fragmented in late 1967 after managerial and financial disputes, Bonniwell reassembled the group under the name The Bonniwell Music Machine. In 1968, an album, The Bonniwell Music Machine appeared. The nucleus of the band was formed when Sean Bonniwell took part in a jam session with Keith Olsen, Bonniwell, already a practiced folky, possessed prior experience as a vocalist with the Wayfarers. The traditional folk combo had already enjoyed some success, releasing three albums, and building on the experience of Bonniwell who insisted on the importance of rehearsal. As Bonniwell traveled and recorded with the group, he began penning some material that would later surface with the Music Machine, prior to meeting, Olsen had previously performed in Gale Garnetts backing band, and Edgar was a member of a bohemian folk quintet called the GoldeBriars. With the GoldeBriars, Edgar contributed to their third album that was originally intended for distribution on Epic Records. The group also recorded four songs that went unreleased until the 2000 album, Ignition, Bonniwell and Olsen were enthusiastically experimenting with musical textures while the band arranged strict rehearsal regimens in Bonniwells garage. The Raggamuffins purchased hardware for a homemade fuzz-tone switch, from the onset Bonniwell ensured the group resonated like no other by instructing his bandmates to lower their instruments from the standard E note to D-flat. As a result of the adjustment, the Raggamuffins were given a bottom-heavy, auditions were held in early 1966 to expand the group, resulting in the recruitment of Mark Landon and Doug Rhodes, previously a session musician for the Association. To reflect on the revamped line-up, Bonniwell changed the name to the Music Machine. Another purpose for coining the name, Bonniwell explained, was I seguewayed all the material with musical segueways. So we would be on stage for like an hour and ten minutes, wall-to-wall music just nonstop, the band built a name for itself with its performances in local clubs in Los Angeles

35.
Ramones
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The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first band to define the punk-rock sound, despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the 1970s punk movement in both the United States and United Kingdom. All of the members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname Ramone. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years, in 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By 2014, all four of the original members, lead singer Joey Ramone, bass guitarist Dee Dee Ramone, lead guitarist Johnny Ramone. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, on March 18,2002, the original four members and Tommys replacement on drums, Marky Ramone, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi had both been in a garage band from 1965 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffrey Hyman. The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974 when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band, the initial line-up featured Colvin on lead vocals, rhythm and bass guitars, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Hyman soon switched from drums to vocals, Colvin was the first to adopt the name Ramone, calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Paul McCartneys use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beetles days, Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Joey and Johnny Ramone, respectively, a friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick, helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattans Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnnys former bandmate Erdelyi was set to become their manager, soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously, with Erdelyis encouragement, Joey became the bands new lead singer. Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each songs tempo with his signature shout of 1-2-3-4. Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously, while auditioning prospective replacements, Erdelyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the music better than anyone else. The Ramones played before an audience for the first time on March 30,1974, the songs they played were very fast and very short, most clocked in at under two minutes

36.
Patti Smith
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Patricia Lee Patti Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the punk poet laureate, Smith fused rock and poetry in her work and her most widely known song is Because the Night, which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen. It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978. In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, on November 17,2010, she won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids. The book fulfilled a promise she had made to her former roommate and partner. In Rolling Stone magazines list of 100 Greatest Artists published in December 2010 and she is also a recipient of the 2011 Polar Music Prize. Patricia Lee Smith was born in Chicago and her mother, Beverly, was a waitress, and her father, Grant, worked at the Honeywell plant. The family was of Irish ancestry and she spent her early childhood in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, before her family moved to Pitman, New Jersey and later to The Woodbury Gardens section of Deptford Township, New Jersey. Her mother was a Jehovahs Witness, man-made laws that you can either decide to abide by or not. Smith graduated from Deptford Township High School in 1964 and went to work in a factory and she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, on April 26,1967, and chose to place her for adoption. In 1967, she left Glassboro State College and moved to Manhattan and she met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe there while working at a book store with a friend, poet Janet Hamill. She and Mapplethorpe had a romantic relationship, which was tumultuous as the pair struggled with times of poverty. Smith considers Mapplethorpe to be one of the most important people in her life, Mapplethorpes photographs of her became the covers for the Patti Smith Group LPs, and they remained friends until Mapplethorpes death in 1989. In 1969 she went to Paris with her sister and started busking and doing performance art, when Smith returned to Manhattan, she lived in the Hotel Chelsea with Mapplethorpe, they frequented Maxs Kansas City and CBGB. Smith provided the spoken word soundtrack for Sandy Daleys art film Robert Having His Nipple Pierced, the same year Smith appeared with Wayne County in Jackie Curtiss play Femme Fatale. Afterward, she starred in Tony Ingrassias play Island. Marks Poetry Project, she spent the early 1970s painting, writing, in 1971 she performed – for one night only – in Cowboy Mouth, a play that she co-wrote with Sam Shepard. She wrote several poems, for sam shepard and Sam Shepard,9 Random Years about her relationship with Shepard, Smith was briefly considered for the lead singer position in Blue Öyster Cult

37.
Rattus Norvegicus (album)
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Rattus Norvegicus is the debut studio album by the Stranglers, released on 17 April 1977. It was one of the albums of the punk era in Britain. Two of its tracks, Peaches and Grip, were released as 7 singles in the UK, the album was originally to be entitled Dead on Arrival but was changed at the last minute. The released title is the name for the common Brown Rat. The album was produced in one week by Martin Rushent, and was a snapshot of the live set at the time. The album peaked at No.4 in the UK Albums Chart, the first 10,000 copies of the original vinyl release included a free 7 single, containing Peasant in the Big Shitty and Choosey Susie. Two singles were taken from the album, Grip, and Peaches, a remastered version of the album was reissued on CD in 2001, including these three additional tracks. The album launch party was held in Chelseas Water Rat pub and it was ranked at No.10 among the top Albums of the Year for 1977 by NME, with Peaches ranked at No.18 among the years top tracks. NME later ranked it at No.196 in its 2014 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and it was included in Robert Dimerys 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. All songs credited as written by the Stranglers, sometimes Written by Hugh Cornwell, describes a violent argument with a girlfriend. The same girlfriend is the subject of Strange Little Girl which was written earlier by Cornwell, goodbye Toulouse Music by Cornwell, lyrics by Burnel. Describes the destruction of Toulouse predicted by Nostradamus, London Lady Music by Cornwell, lyrics by Burnel. Loosely based on a female journalist. Princess of the Streets Written in 6/8 time, music and lyrics by Burnel, hanging Around Music by Burnel, lyrics by Cornwell. Describes the characters found in the London pubs that the band played live at, Grip Music and lyrics by Cornwell. Based on band life in their Chiddingfold squat, featured Eric Clarke, ugly Music and lyrics by Burnel. Described as abstract psychedelia by Cornwell, the poem Ozymandias is featured, down in the Sewer Has four sections, Falling/Down In The Sewer/Trying To Get Out Again/Rats Rally. Music by Burnel, lyrics by Cornwell, Peasant in the Big Shitty – live 2

38.
No More Heroes (album)
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No More Heroes is the second studio album by English new wave band the Stranglers. It was released on 23 September 1977, through record label United Artists, five months after their debut album, No More Heroes was produced by Martin Rushent. The album consists of new material with three left over from the Rattus Norvegicus sessions. The album cover features a photo of a wreath placed on a coffin with the tails of several rats, the brass plaque on the album cover was engraved by Steven Stapleton of Nurse with Wound. All tracks written by the Stranglers, released on 23 September 1977, No More Heroes became one of the bands highest charting releases, peaking at No.2 on the UK Albums Chart, and staying in the chart for eighteen weeks. Two singles were released from the album, No More Heroes, and a double A-side of Something Better Change, a further non-album single was released later that year,5 Minutes b/w Rok It to the Moon. No More Heroes has been praised by retrospective critics, allMusic called No More Heroes faster, nastier and better. At this point the Stranglers were on top of their game, trouser Press wrote that No More Heroes continues in the same vein, but drops whatever hint of restraint may have been in force the first time around. Rude words and adult themes abound, with no punches pulled, No More Heroes was remastered and reissued in 2001, including the additional tracks from the singles

39.
Black and White (The Stranglers album)
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Black and White is the third studio album by English new wave band The Stranglers. It was released on 12 May 1978, through record label United Artists, as with The Stranglers first two albums, Black and White was produced by Martin Rushent. The album sees The Stranglers adopting an experimental approach to song structures. The band recorded a version of Sweden sung in Swedish, called Sverige, the song was partly inspired by Cornwells PhD placement at Lund University in the mid-1970s. The song title Death and Night and Blood is taken from a line from Yukio Mishimas novel Confessions of a Mask, the song In the Shadows had previously been released as the B-side to the bands 1977 single No More Heroes. All tracks written by The Stranglers, except as noted, Black and White was released on 12 May 1978. The album peaked at No.2 on the UK Albums Chart, the first 75,000 LPs came with a free white vinyl 7 composed of three tracks, Walk On By, Mean to Me and Tits. The US version of the album, on the A&M label, was pressed on black and white marbled vinyl, singles released from the album were Nice n Sleazy, b/w Shut Up, and Walk On By, b/w Tank and Old Codger. Old Codger featured a guest vocal from jazz singer George Melly, an edited version of Walk On By with Tank was also pressed as a double A-side radio-play single. Most of these tracks were included in the remastered 2001 CD re-issue of the album, retrospective critics generally view Black and White in a lesser light to the bands previous albums. AllMusic called it arguably the weakest of The Stranglers first three albums, yet it still has some absolutely stunning moments, trouser Press wrote, Black and White lacks only good songs. Except for Nice n Sleazy, most of the tracks are merely inferior rehashes of earlier work, making the LP easily forgettable

40.
Monty Python
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Monty Python were a British surreal comedy group who created their sketch comedy show Monty Pythons Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series, the Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, including touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and a stage musical. The Pythons influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles influence on music, the Orlando Sentinel referred to their sketch show as not only one of the more enduring icons of 1970s British popular culture, but also an important moment in the evolution of television comedy. Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Flying Circus was conceived, written, and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach, it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style. Following their television work, they began making films, which include Holy Grail, Life of Brian, pythonesque has entered the English lexicon as a result. Jones and Palin met at Oxford University, where they performed together with the Oxford Revue, Chapman and Cleese met at Cambridge University. Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Chapman, Cleese met Gilliam in New York City while on tour with the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus. Chapman, Cleese, and Idle were members of the Footlights, which at that also included the future Goodies. During Idles presidency of the club, feminist writer Germaine Greer and broadcaster Clive James were members, following the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, a tea-time childrens programme, ITV offered Gilliam, Idle, Jones, and Palin their own late-night adult comedy series together. At the same time, Chapman and Cleese were offered a show by the BBC, Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Chapmans supposedly difficult and erratic personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin on How To Irritate People, much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleeses desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold. The Pythons had a idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore on Beyond the Fringe, and had worked on Frost and they enjoyed Cook and Moores sketch show Not Only. They decided that they would not bother to cap their sketches in the traditional manner. However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their heroes, Spike Milligan. Not only was the programme more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy and it was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate. After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for Do Not Adjust Your Set called Beware of the Elephants, Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series, allowing sketches to blend into one another

41.
Surreal humour
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Surreal humour is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Constructions of surreal humour tend to involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, the humour arises from a subversion of audiences expectations, so that amusement is founded on unpredictability, separate from a logical analysis of the situation. The humour derived gets its appeal from the fact that the situation described is so ridiculous or unlikely, the genre has roots in Surrealism in the arts. People speak of surreal humour when illogic and absurdity are used for humorous effect, many of Edward Lears children stories and poems contain nonsense and are basically surreal in approach. Besides that, it was bordered by evanescent isthmuses with a great Gulf-stream running about all over it, so that it was perfectly beautiful, and contained only a single tree,503 feet high. In the early 20th century, several movements, including the dadaists, surrealists. The goals of these movements were in some serious, and they were committed to undermining the solemnity. As a result, much of their art was intentionally amusing, a famous example is Marcel Duchamps Fountain, an inverted urinal signed R. Mutt. This became one of the most famous and influential pieces of art in history and it is also a joke, relying on the inversion of the items function as expressed by its title as well as its incongruous presence in an art exhibition. The word surreal first began to be used to describe a type of aesthetic of the early 1920s, surreal humour is also found frequently in avant-garde theatre such as Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. In the United States, S. J. Perelman has been identified as the first surrealist humour writer, artists like Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Donald Barthelme, Italo Calvino, John Hodgman, and many others have relied on this technique in their work. Surrealist humour has played an important role in culture, especially since The Goon Show, Ernie Kovacs. Spike Milligan has been an influence with his absurdist pieces. One of his earliest works in radio, The Goon Show, has inspired many other absurdist comedians and was popular at the time. Spike Milligan went on to create a TV show in 1969, in turn, the Pythons influenced many with their groundbreaking series Monty Pythons Flying Circus. In the 1980s, when the alternative comedy era had begun, absurdist comedians were working the circuit, with the success of The Comic Strip Presents. Featuring as one of the first aired pieces for Channel 4 and this was a very absurdist sitcom based on four university students. Both Monty Python and The Young Ones featured a structure and many absurdities